07 August 2013

President Obama has canceled plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at an upcoming summit in Moscow, reports the Washington Post. The White House cited Russia's decision to grant asylum to Edward Snowden, as well as human rights and arms control concerns.

Obama had intended to visit Russia’s capital and meet with Putin in advance of next month’s Group of 20 summit in St. Petersburg. But he has decided he will not meet with Putin one-on-one — a rare diplomatic snub — and will attend only the G-20 summit.

"Following a careful review begun in July, we have reached the conclusion that there is not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda with Russia to hold a U.S.-Russia Summit in early September," White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.

Carney cited a "lack of progress" with Russia over the past 12 months on a broad range of issues including missile defense and arms control, trade and commercial relations, global security and human rights and civil society issues. Carney added that Russia’s “disappointing decision” last week to grant Snowden temporary asylum, allowing him to live and work in Russia for up to a year, was also a factor.

By calling off Obama’s visit to Moscow, the US has shown it is not ready to build relations on an equal footing, the Kremlin says. The Snowden situation, on which the decision was based, is not Russia’s fault, presidential aide Yury Ushakov stressed.

"We are disappointed by the US administration’s decision to cancel the visit of President Obama to Moscow that was planned for the beginning of September. It is clear that the decision is related to the situation around the former intelligence agency employee Snowden – something that was created not by us," Ushakov told reporters.

"Wednesday's announcement is likely to further strain the relationship, even as the U.S. seeks Russia's cooperation on Syria and other pressing issues," adds the Associated Press.

11 November 2011

CHICAGO: Several dozen HIV/AIDS advocates peacefully disrupted the U.S. Conference on AIDS (USCA) only minutes after it officially opened Thursday morning. The action was targeted at pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences and its controversial pricing of the anti-retroviral medication Atripla.

The group encircled Gilead's conference booths with a red ribbon, wore masks of Gilead CEO John C. Martin, held signs that read "Occupy Gilead" and chanted "Gilead is the 1%." Gilead is a lead sponsor of USCA 2011.

"The exhibit hall was only open a half hour and [the] action began around Gilead and their pricing," Amanda Lugg Director of Advocacy & Mobilization of the New York City-based African Services Committee told R20. "I was very pleased to see that."

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than 9,000 people across the U.S. are on waiting lists for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, the federal/state program that helps low-income, people living with HIV/AIDS pay for their expensive medications. Despite this fact, the cost of Atripla went up by 5.1 percent, while Truvada and Emtriva increased by 7.9 percent. The oft-prescribed Atripla is at the top of the unaffordable list, priced at $10,000 per patient per year.